Page:Notes upon Russia (volume 1, 1851).djvu/304

 They have no gold money, nor do they themselves coin any, but mostly use Hungarian, and occasionally Rhenish money. They often change their valuation of these coins, especially when a foreigner wishes to purchase anything with gold, for then they immediately depreciate its value; but if any one is about to go anywhere on a journey and wants gold, they then raise the price again.

They use the rubles of Riga on account of its proximity, one of which is worth two of those of Moscow. The money of Moscow is of pure and good silver, although that is also adulterated now. Yet I never heard of any one being reprehended for this misdemeanour. Nearly all the goldsmiths of Moscow coin money; and when any one brings masses of pure silver and asks for money for them, they weigh both the money and the silver and balance it equally. There is a small fixed price above the equal weight to be paid to the goldsmiths, who otherwise charge but little for their labour. Some have written that in some very few spots in this country there is an abundance of silver, and that the prince forbids its exportation. The truth is that the country contains no silver, except (as I have said) what is imported; but the prince may rather be said to guard against than to forbid its exportation, and to that effect orders his subjects to barter their commodities, and to give and receive some articles in exchange for others, such as skins (in which they abound), or anything else of the kind, so as to keep their gold and silver in the province. It is scarcely a hundred years since the silver money which they used was principally of their own coining. When silver was first introduced into the province, they used to cast little oblong pieces of silver without any impression or inscription, of the value of one ruble, not one of which is now to be seen. Money was also coined in the principality of Galicia; but as that had no constant value,